Danganronpa: Final Flight (SYOC)
by Shirasaur
Summary: Airports. Such a strange place. The boundaries set there are different than that of any other public space. Different enough to be the perfect setting for yet another killing game. (SYOC Closed)
1. Chapter 1

Consider the modern airport.

The peak example of humanity, no?

Why not? It's the only place where one can find people of nearly every condition. Old men in business suits, harried families and their screeching offspring, terrified teenagers traveling alone for the first time.

Consider all the joy that happens inside such a traveling hub. Well. There isn't much, is there? One can find a Starbucks at every gate, but that's not really what most would consider to be a source of happiness and fulfillment.

So airports aren't exactly overflowing with hope. But you know what is most abundant in every airport across the globe?

Despair. Endless, endless despair. From benign terrors, such as losing a boarding pass, or being pulled aside for yet another pat-down, to things that are much, much worse. Threats, bombs, hostage situations. The birthplace of deadly pandemics. And yet people still crowd the terminals, jostling at the check-in because they _just can't _miss their flight.

So vulnerable, so innocent.

So… unaware.

The perfect place to wreak a little havoc.

* * *

Hello all!

Sorry to get to you so late, there were extensions, and school, and all that other Fun Stuff. I've got about half of the intro written right now, so I hope to get that out as soon as possible.

I got a lot of great characters, but sadly I can only accept 15 because that's all I have the capacity to handle. Tough decisions were made. Enough blabbering from me, on with the list!

* * *

**Males:**

**Kaiga Nakajima, Ultimate Scuba Diver - RioA**

**Ginjiro Kitsuneda, Ultimate Bounty Hunter - Ziggymia123**

**Bryan York, Ultimate Taxi Driver - PainX65**

**Yaron Siskind, Ultimate Spoken Word Artist - TheRoseShadow21**

**Viktor Voss, Ultimate Neuroscientist - Abitat Eco**

**Rhett Greenfield, Ultimate Street Fighter - ComplicatedYetSimple**

**Alias Mooney, Ultimate Archer - hitdatfeamep**

**Hideki Tateyama, Ultimate Travel Agent - Treeja**

**Females:**

**Sunny Sycamore, Ultimate Fisherman - Shirasaur (me)**

**Suika Momiji, Ultimate Lumberjack - Prince PokePersona**

**Yasumi Tsuru, Ultimate Ornithologist - EagleWar097**

**Rivka Adina Levine, Ultimate Classical Composer - TheRoseShadow21**

**Asuka Maeda, Ultimate Travel Blogger - Abitat Eco**

**Karagi Iemikawa, Ultimate Graffiti Artist - Sharkeye**

**Dajeong Kwon, Ultimate Crash Site Investigator - KISL**

**Kagami Unubore, Ultimate Fashion Designer - Lupus Overkill**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: woo messy intro chapter! I finished writing it and just got really excited and wanted to post it, so it might be a bit messy. whoops. Also, thanks for all the kind reviews! They made me happy cry a little bit.**

**Anyways on with the chapter!**

* * *

Sunny Sycamore did not get along well with airports. She tried to avoid dealing with them whenever possible, but when you live in Florida and your school is located in Japan, that makes it pretty difficult. But just because Sunny was stuck in TSA hell, that didn't mean she had to enjoy it. She put her beat up knapsack and equally destroyed sandals in one of the many plastic bins and reluctantly got in line for the metal detector. Sunny couldn't stand the metal detectors. They were large and unnerving, and just made her so uncomfortable. The TSA agent at the opposite end of the machine gave a friendly smile and motioned at her to walk on through. That friendly smile disappeared quite quickly though, as soon as Sunny had one foot through the metal detector it began to beep wildly, its high-pitched sounds catching the attention of everyone else struggling through security.

"Ma'am, you are required to remove any and all metal objects from or on your person."

Her bracelet! Sunny gave the TSA agent a sheepish grin and hurriedly chucked the loop of fish hooks and fishing line in yet another plastic bin. She made towards the machine again, but the TSA agent was still staring at her. What could he possibly be looking at? His attention seemed eerily focused around her neck.

Necklace. Of course.

Sunny undid the clasp and tried to remove it from around her neck, but instead she felt a yank near the back of her scalp. Crap. She reached a hand up into the dark mass of curls on her head and found the source of the issue; one of the blunt hooks on her necklace was knotted up into her hair. Sunny tried to gently untangle it, but it was inextricably stuck, and people were starting to stare. She gave a sharp tug and the necklace fell into her palm, along with a few strands of dark hair. That too went in a plastic bin, and Sunny was finally allowed through the horrid metal detector.

After a minute or two of waiting, Sunny's knapsack and jewelry emerged from the scanner, and she snatched them off of the conveyor belt, feeling their familiar presence on her skin.

Wait a minute. Where in the world were her shoes? She turned frantically about, hoping to catch a glimpse of them somewhere nearby. There! Over behind that glass wall designated for… secondary screening? Right. Sure. That made total sense. Her shoes were obviously bombs. Sunny made her way over to the station of yet another TSA agent, internally grimacing at the feeling of the cold tile beneath her feet.

"Um. Hi there! My shoes were pulled off for secondary screening, and—"

"And," snapped the man in uniform, "calm down, you'll get 'em back eventually."

"Right, but— but they're my shoes. I need them. To walk."

"Patience, missy. We're just making sure everything is safe. Can't have any threats getting through, now can we?"

"Um." Sunny gave the man a nod, and walked toward the bench, more confused than she had been before. After a few minutes, her shoes were finally released, still with no explanation, and Sunny was off towards her gate.

The Orlando Airport was not the nicest place to be. The stained green carpet looked like it had been pulled straight from the eighties, and hadn't been cleaned since. That dirty, outdated vibe applied to nearly every aspect of the building, from the textured cream walls to the trams running from one end of the airport to the other. The only semi-decent section of the airport was the atrium. In the center of it was a giant fountain, with water jets of varying size bubbling up and out. Scattered about the fountain were large benches and planters containing various grasses and hostas. It was quite a relaxing place to wait for a flight, which had been Sunny's original plan, until she noticed a shifting of the flightimes on one of the screens suspended overhead. The flight affected wasn't hers, but it gave her a chance to just double check the timing. 3:30, right? Sun Country Flight 1703 from Orlando to Haneda Airport, leaving at 2:30– 2:30?! Great. Wonderful. Absolutely amazing. 15 minutes to reach the gate in time for boarding.

So Sunny set off once more, this time in a full out sprint; rushing past other travelers and nearly crashing into a security guard on a Segway. She could feel her sandals slowly slipping forwards, so she stopped to give each foot a quick shake before bolting forward once more.

Sunny reached the gate with maybe a minute to spare, disheveled, sweaty, and ready to collapse. What now? What did she need? There was something tickling at the back of her brain, something important. Her passport? In her right pocket. Phone? No, that wasn't needed to board a plane. Board a plane. Boarding pass! God, where was it? Right pocket had her passport, left pocket had her wallet and flip phone, top left pocket felt like it had scraps of paper in it— boarding pass!

Of course, as soon as Sunny had located her boarding pass from the endless void that was her left pocket, an announcement rang out over the P.A. System.

"Flight 1703 from Orlando to Haneda will be experiencing a two hour delay, due to reports of incoming turbulence and inclement weather."

Airports, man. Fucking airports.

* * *

After what felt like eternity and a half, (but in reality was only two hours and fifteen minutes), flight 1703 was finally boarding. Sunny hauled her knapsack back over her shoulder and trundled down the jetway, all the way through first class and luxury economy seating before locating her own seat, an aisle seat smack-dab in the middle of business class. Sunny didn't even bother trying to stuff her bag in the already crammed overhead bin, choosing instead to kick it under the seat in front of her before collapsing into her seat. She kicked off her shoes and tried to close her eyes in an attempt to get to sleep before she could get air sick, but she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but we'd ask all passengers to keep their shoes on, just in case of an emergency, and to remain awake for the safety demonstration," said the flight attendant in a sickly saccharine voice.

Sunny gave the woman a mute nod. Was that normal on most flights? She could've sworn that sleeping through the safety demonstration was totally fine, normal, even. Oh well. The safety demonstrations existed for a reason, didn't they? Maybe actually listening to them would come in handy, but then again, it'd probably be better if she never needed to use that knowledge.

Despite Sunny's best efforts, she could not concentrate on what was coming out of the flight attendants mouth. There was something about seatbelts, and the thing with the face masks and helping yourself before helping others.

Even though she had started to doze off, she could've sworn that the flight attendant had winked at her while demonstrating how to don a face mask.

Weird.

* * *

SNAKES! There were snakes everywhere! Crawling down her face and through the sleeves of her shirt, trickling down from the seams on the walls, hissing so loudly she thought her eardrums might burst and—

No. No, there were no snakes. It was a dream. Just the hissing sound coming from the ceiling.

That's not right.

Sunny opened her eyes to clouds of gas descending from the ceiling, blanketing the rows and rows of sleeping passengers. She suddenly jolted into alertness. Was the plane being gassed? Where were the gas masks? Sunny reached up to give the ceiling a nudge, her arms just long enough for her fingertips to graze the ceiling. She wanted to stand up, apply more force or yank the masks down, but her legs were just… so heavy. Her arm dropped back down like a rock, head lolling back into the chair. Her eyelids felt like weights, and it was a strain to keep them open. Through the haze that was filling the plane, Sunny thought she saw someone making their way towards the cockpit. A figure, their shape not quite discernible through the mist that had settled down onto the passengers. That couldn't be good.

But Sunny gave the figure no more thought as she drifted off into a state of unconsciousness, completely unaware of the upcoming terror she was soon to face.


	3. Chapter 3

This must be what fish feel like, as they're reeled up from the water. A gentle pull, slowly increasing in resistance until the surface of the water is broken. Sunny's head felt like the fish, slowly extracting itself from the dreamlike fog until it broke through into consciousness.

That makes it sound so poetic, waking up calmly and with a clear mind.

What actually happened was that Sunny was asleep on a bench, she tried to roll onto her side, and she fell off, jolting herself awake. Her head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton, and the rest of her felt numb. Slowly, her limbs regained consciousness, making themselves known with little pinpricks of feeling, the way one's leg might feel after being asleep. Eventually, Sunny became aware of a hard rectangle pressing into her stomach. She slowly drew herself up into a sitting position, and picked up the rectangle from the floor. It looked just like a plain black box. Sleek and shiny, with no discernible buttons on any of its sides. She gave it a tap and it suddenly lit up, harsh light jarring to her still woozy senses. Sunny blinked a few times and cautiously reopened her eyes.

**Greetings, [Sunny Sycamore]!**

Ultimate [Fisherman]

Please proceed to the baggage claim on floor 2

Baggage claim? What in the— oh. It was then that Sunny finally took notice of her surroundings.

"Why am I back in the Orlando airport?"

Had she missed her flight after all? No, she remembered falling asleep during the safety demonstration. Was she kicked off of the plane for falling asleep after being explicitly told not to? That couldn't be right. There had been something weird about that whole interaction though. Why had the flight attendant been so focused on her? This was just too much. Sunny tipped her head back onto the bench and stared up at the atrium's glass ceiling. The sunlight streaming through felt quite peaceful, and the rushing water of the fountain was soothing enough to lull her back to sleep.

No. This was not the time for sleeping. There was something going on, and she needed to figure it out.

Sunny shakily got to her legs. The sudden movement made her feel a bit dizzy, but the feeling passed as soon as it started. She picked up the rectangle and gave it another tap. The welcoming screen popped up again. Sunny tried swiping in another direction, but the screen did not change.

Well then. There was nothing to do but go to baggage claim.

Wait, was that a fish tank? Baggage claim could wait. Sunny turned left towards the food court, and sped towards the fishtank.

The tank was in the center of a food court, but Sunny paid it no mind. The tank was gigantic, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, and was illuminated by a soft, blue light. There were dozens of different fish swimming inside it; swordtails, rainbow fish, loaches, although there were no sunfish in sight. It was incredibly calming.

"Heya! Whatcha starin' at?"

Sunny whipped around at the sudden voice, and it suddenly occurred to her that she had been completely alone in the airport until now.

"Uh, hello?"

The speaker suddenly popped up in front of her, leaning forward and extending a pale hand.

"Hi there! I'm Yasumi Tsuru! It's nice to meet you? What's your name?"

Yasumi was tall, even taller than Sunny, and thin as a twig. A brown peacoat hung from her thin frame, unbuttoned over a blue v-neck and a pair of corduroys.

"Sunny! Sunny Sycamore. Nice to, uh, meet you too!"

"So, Sunny-Sunny-Sycamore, why are you so enamored with this tank of fish? Don't get me wrong, fish are great, but you seemed, like, drawn to it."

"Oh, I'm— I'm, uh, The Ultimate Fisherman. Y'know, that school for talented stu—"

"No way! I'm the Ultimate Ornithologist! Gosh, what a coincidence. But, wait… if you're the Ultimate Fisherman, wouldn't it make more sense for you to have some sort of vendetta against fish? Not be totally enamored with them?"

* * *

**Yasumi Tsuru**

**Ultimate Ornithologist**

* * *

"I mean, I guess. I try to release all the fish I catch though. I think they're really neat animals."

"Yeah, no, I get that. Makes sense," Yasumi mused, twirling one of her long brown ponytails around her finger, "total topic change, but do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, where are we? And why are we here? It seems incredibly coincidental for two Ultimates be just stuck in some random building."

"I mean, I can answer some of that. We're in the airport in Orlando, Florida."

"That explains why we're being asked instructed to go to baggage claim."

"You got that message too?"

"Yeah, see?" Yasumi pulled an identical rectangle out of her coat pocket, and turned it on.

**Greetings, [Yasumi Tsuru]!**

Ultimate [Ornithologist]

Please proceed to the baggage claim on floor 2

Sunny pulled at her necklace in thought. Something was going on here, that was obvious, but what? She woke up in a completely empty airport, with some fancy tablet giving her directions, and in all that mess she just so happened to run into another Ultimate.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yasumi's lilting voice, "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Just—this is so weird. We're all alone in a totally empty airport, with little tablets giving us instructions. I don't even know how I got here or why I'm here, and everything just feels...wrong?"

"Hmm. Yeah."

The two stood in silence for a moment, neither sure what to say to the other.

"Yoo hoo!" The sound of another girl's voice rang out from the other side of the fish tank.

Sunny squinted through the glass, eyes landing on a petite girl in a plaid dress. She was quite thin as well, and nearly half a foot shorter than Sunny. She sort of reminded Sunny of a porcelain doll, with braided auburn hair, rosy cheeks and dark green eyes. Although, on second thought, maybe she was more like a lumberjack action figure than a doll. She had on a green and black plaid beanie, in contrast to the red plaid on her dress, plus a long denim coat and shearling boots.

"Hello!" Yasumi grinned.

The girl waved and smiled back, then skipped around the tank to where Sunny and Yasumi were standing.

"Hi there! Who are you people?"

"Well, my name's Yasumi Tsuru, and this is my friend-of-two-minutes Sunny…?"

"Sycamore. Sunny Sycamore. Do—"

"Well, it's so very nice to meet you, I hope we can become good friends soon! I'm Suika Momiji, the Ultimate Lumberjack, and don't you forget it!" Giggled Suika.

* * *

**Suika Momiji**

**Ultimate Lumberjack**

* * *

Wait a minute, another Ultimate?

"Another Ultimate?" asked Yasumi, clearly on the same path as Sunny.

"Oooooh! Are you guys Ultimates too? Wowie, what a coincidence!"

Yeah. A really huge coincidence. If it wasn't clear that something was going on before, it sure was now.

"Would either of you know where baggage claim is? I found a tablet telling me to go there but I am unable to triangulate the location."

"Uh, I don't think that's what triangulate means—"

"You got a tablet too?" Yasumi pulled hers back out of her pocket and showed it to Suika. "Isn't that weird? Geez, I have so many questions."

Sunny, unsure of how to reenter the conversation, settled for ambling around to the other side of the fish tank, where the actual food court was. It sort of resembled a food court, except much more...lifeless. The walls were a bland shade of beige, although it was a different beige than the tiled floor, which made for an unpleasant visage. It was conspicuously clean, too. The last time Sunny had been there there was trash strewn all over the floor, and on the tables as well. The signs above the restaurants were missing, although Sunny could make out the faded outline of the McDonalds logo above one of the eight counters.

Her stomach growled, loudly. Everything looked closed, but it was worth a try, right? Sunny chose the counter furthest to her left, the one with a happy green countertop that might've been a Sbarro at one point. Once Sunny was actually standing in front of the counter, she realized that she didn't have a clue what she was doing. There were no menus, no register, and from what she could see, there was no kitchen equipment either. How was she supposed to feed herself now?

She could jump over the counter, just to see what's back there. If she found something to eat in the process then what's the harm? Yeah, good plan. She couldn't see any flaws.

As Sunny hurled herself over the countertop she realized that there was one small issue. She hadn't counted on the fact that there would be someone asleep on the floor behind the counter. Sadly, Sunny reacted too late and fell on the poor guy's arm.

"What the—"

"OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO LAND ON YOU I WAS JUST HUNGRY."

That did not alleviate any tension whatsoever. The guy just stared at her, irritation clear on his face. Sunny was intimidated, to say the least. This man was tall, incredibly muscular, and he looked ready to tear her limb from limb. The scars on his face and knuckles weren't exactly reassuring either.

"What's going on?"

"Heh. Uh, funny story actually, I—uh—I have no idea," mumbled Sunny. "Hey, is this yours?" She pulled out another black rectangle that was pinned under her leg.

"Why would that be mine?"

"I mean, it was on the ground near you, so I assumed that maybe, uh, maybe it was yours?" Sunny held the rectangle out in the man's direction, and he grabbed it from her hands. He gave it a tap and winced at the bright screen, similar to how Sunny reacted when she first turned it on.

"So…" Sunny did her best to fill the silence, she hated those awkward lulls in conversations, even though she always seemed to be the one to cause them. "I'm Sunny. Sunny Sycamore. Sorry to be nosy right off the bat but are you an Ultimate?"

"Why? But, yeah. I'm Rhett Greenfield. Ultimate Street Fighter."

* * *

**Rhett Greenfield**

**Ultimate Street Fighter**

* * *

That explained the roughed-up look then. Rhett had on a black button down, but nearly a third of the buttons were undone, and the right side of his shirt had come untucked from his similarly dark colored jeans. His boots were black too, with iron tips. The only color he had on, aside from his spiky red hair, was a red jacket with yellow sleeves, one of which was pulled up to his elbow, exposing a tattoo of flames crawling up his forearm.

"You?" Rhett asked, interrupting Sunny's train of thought.

"Me? Me what?"

"What about you? Are you an Ultimate?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm the Ultimate Fisherman. Sorry. For the weird question. It's kinda hard to explain."

Rhett stared at her, waiting for the explanation.

"Okay. Well, uh. I don't actually know. I woke up on a bench and I also found a rectangle telling me to go to baggage claim, by the way, we're in the Orlando airport, which explains that, but anyways, I've been exploring since the airport is totally empty and I've only run into two other people, both of whom were Ultimates."

"Huh," Rhett nodded, perhaps still too out of it to question Sunny any further.

"Anyways. Before I landed on you I was looking for something to eat but there doesn't seem to be any… well, anything really left back here."

"There's a fridge over there against the wall." Rhett inclined his head to the back of kitchen, where a conspicuously large freezer sat. Sunny darted over to the freezer and tried to pry the lid up, but it was too heavy, so she settled for staring awkwardly at it instead.

"Do you want some help with that?"

"Uh. Yeah, thanks. For your services I'll offer you half of whatever's in there."

"My services?"

"Oh—uh—it was a joke. It wasn't really good, sorry." Sunny tugged at her bracelet, as if that would somehow relieve her stress. The freezer opened with a muffled _whump, _and Sunny practically dove into it, only to find that it was full of...

"Breadsticks?"

"Well. Do you want half of the breadsticks, I guess?"

"I'll pass."

"That's fair. They're rock solid anyways." Sunny grumbled, displeased at the lack of readily edible food. Still, she stuck one in her pocket, hoping that maybe her body heat would thaw it out. "I'm going to keep wandering then. I'll see you around, I guess?"

Sunny awkwardly crawled back over the countertop, and headed back towards the fish tank. Yasumi and Suika were gone, probably to go find baggage claim, which was where she should be going, except she wanted to explore some more. But where to go? The hall that connected to the food court went in two directions, one way led to an open space that connected back to the atrium, and the other way led to a hall with shops on either side.

At least, that's what used to be there.

The framework of the stores were still there, but just like the food court, the stores were completely gutted too. No signs, no products, there weren't even doors. The stores were all redone in black and white, with red paneling in place of where the doors had been. It was weird; the middle of the hall still looked like the rest of the airport, with some ugly blue armchairs and end tables on stained green carpet, but the stores were so different. Confused, Sunny went in to the nearest store, hoping that maybe something inside would give her some clue as to what was going on.

Standing inside the store felt like standing on a chessboard. The floor was checkered black and white tile, and the walls had the same pattern. The only thing in the store was a vending machine, also covered in black and white squares. Sunny couldn't see into the vending machine though, there was a giant screen in place of the glass, kind of like the tablet she still had in her pocket. Curious, Sunny pulled it out to compare it to the vending machine. They looked identical. Sunny brought her screen parallel to the vending machine, but nothing happened. She shoved the tablet back in her pocket, slightly embarrassed at her useless maneuver.

"Yeah, I tried that too. Weird, isn't it?" Said a voice from above.

"AAAAH! WHAT THE HELL?"

"Hey! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm up here," Sunny glanced up to the top of the vending machine to see another tall, muscular guy sitting on top of it. "Yo. Name's Ginjiro Kitsuneda, Ultimate Bounty Hunter. 'Sup?"

* * *

**Ginjiro Kitsuneda**

**Ultimate Bounty Hunter**

* * *

"You."

"What?" Ginjiro cocked his head, dark purple curls spilling across his forehead and over the heart-shaped sunglasses perched atop his head.

"Sorry, uh—you. You're up, 'cuz you're—uh—sitting on a vending machine. Why are you sitting on a vending machine?"

Ginjiro shrugged at her, "Why not?"

"Makes sense. Wait, did you say Ultimate Bounty Hunter?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Nothing. I've just—well. You see what's going on, right? The empty airport? I've only seen three other people and they've all been Ultimates too. Also the Bounty Hunter thing."

"The Bounty Hunter thing?"

"Yeah. It's, uh. I mean I've really only seen bounty hunters on those awful reality TV shows, and not to be rude but, you don't look like any of them." Ginjiro really didn't. He had on a frayed black tank top covered in paint splatters, with a white shirt unbuttoned over it, sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He had on a pair of torn black jeans, the same shade as the aforementioned heart-shaped sunglasses, and a ton of ear piercings. Most of them looked like plain silver cuffs, aside from one made of black glass beads.

"What do you mean, 'I don't look like a bounty hunter', what's a bounty hunter supposed to look like?"

"Uh. I don't know. I was just thinking of those old guys on TV with the really long beards and camo pants."

"Yeah, well that's not what I look like, is it?" Snapped Ginjiro, who didn't seem pleased.

"I—uh—sorry? I'll just, uh, I'll just go now."

Sunny awkwardly ran out of the store, and darted into a nearby bathroom. At least that still looked normal. She squished her face against the wall, willfully ignoring the thought of how many germs were on it. Sunny loved meeting new people, she really did, she was just terrible at it. She stuck her tongue out at her reflection in the mirror, although it didn't accomplish anything. Really, it just made her notice how unwell she looked. Maybe it was just the fluorescent airport lighting, but her brown skin looked clammy and ashen, and even her curly hair looked wilted. She had the sudden urge to try to make herself look more put together, most of the people she'd just met looked presentable, shouldn't she? Not to say that she didn't look presentable, she just wasn't...neat? Her cargo shorts were seriously frayed at the ends, and her once bright orange Fanta shirt had seen better days.

"GAH!"

"AAH!"

A fragile-looking girl in a navy blue business suit had stepped out of one of the bathroom stalls and screamed at the sudden appearance of Sunny, who, not knowing how to respond, screamed back.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! Or intrude, or whatever. I was just—uh. Whatever. I'm Sunny. Sunny Sycamore. What's your name?"

"GAH!"

"Gah?"

"No! No, I'm Dajeong Kwon! Who are you and where the hell did you come from?! The ceiling?! Don't tell me you're a vampire!" Yelled Dajeong, slowly becoming more hysterical.

"No, I—uh. No? I came from outside the bathroom? Is that what you're asking?"

"I don't know! What the hell is going on?!"

"I don't actually know. Uh. We're in the Orlando airport? That's all I've got. Oh! Everyone I've met seems to be an Ultimate. Speaking of…?"

But Dajeong didn't respond to Sunny's prompt. She was shakily tugging at her light blue tie, and staring a hole into the ground.

"Uh, Dajeong?"

"GAH! What?" Dajeong gave her tie a final tug and faced Sunny.

"I was just wondering if you had an Ultimate? Since everyone else I've met here has, uh, has one."

"Yes! I am the Ultimate Crash Site Investigator."

* * *

**Dajeong Kwon**

**Ultimate Crash Site Investigator**

* * *

Sunny, not sure if she should be relieved or more confused, continued blabbering, "Wow. Cool, I think? Does that mean you know what's going on? Wait, no, you just asked what was going on."

Dajeong's steely eyes bored into Sunny, and even though she was slightly taller, and a lot more muscular, Sunny was intimidated.

"Gah, I don't know what's going on and I _hate _not knowing what's going on, I hate it. I must've pissed off the deity of the skies or something, that's what's going on."

"Sky...deity?"

"What?! Don't question me! This is the work of some unforeseen force, I'm sure of it, oh, god get me out of here." Dajeong was starting to hyperventilate. Sunny took the chance to exit the bathroom and flopped down in one of the ugly armchairs in the hall. That was not something she knew how to deal with.

She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes in exasperation, and leaned over the armrest of the chair. She could just take a nap right here. Ignore whatever was currently going on. Yeah, that sounded nice. The chair wasn't too bad, it was actually pretty comfortable, in a decrepit sort of way.

Sunny was about to drift off to sleep until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Erm, excuse me?"

She blearily opened her eyes to a small young boy leaning over her chair, waiting for a response. The guy was kinda tan, and his dark blue hair was slicked back into a short ponytail, with a few strands falling into his face, the rest pinned back with a crescent moon-shaped hair clip. His neat appearance sort of reminded her of a librarian, with the pink sweater on top of a black collared shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans.

"H-hello?"

"Hi." Sunny awkwardly maneuvered around the boy and out of the chair so that they could be on an even level, only to see that the boy was eye-level with her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to w-wake you up, but I was wondering if y-you were an Ultimate? I ran into these two girls who mentioned that everyone they r-ran into here was an Ultimate, so I wanted to f-find out for myself."

Two girls, was it Yasumi and Suika?

"Uh, yeah. I'm Sunny Sycamore, the Ultimate Fisherman."

"Ah, okay. My name is Kaiga Nakajima, and I am the Ultimate Scuba Diver. It's a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

**Kaiga Nakajima**

**Ultimate Scuba Diver**

* * *

"Wow, Scuba Diving! That sounds so cool. Do you get to see all the weird fish? Or all the not-fish sea creatures? I'd love to see a squid, that'd be cool. Or a sea slug. I really only ever see the garden variety kind of fish so any ocean creature would be cool." Sunny paused her fish rant to breathe and saw that Kaiga looked a little unnerved. "Sorry. I, uh, I really like fish."

"N-no! No, me too! Whenever I dive I get to see all these fish swimming around and—uh—I agree."

Cue the awkward pause. Kaiga fiddled with the red bow around his collar, and Sunny resisted the urge to chew on her necklace.

"I'm, uh, assuming you got the thing telling you to go to baggage claim?"

"Oh! Y-yes, I did. I'm not sure where it is, though."

"No problem! I can show you where it is! If—if you want, that is."

"Yes, please."

The two went back down the hallway with the strange color scheme, and through the food court. Sunny babbled on about nothing useful throughout the entire walk; She did not do well with silence. She talked about fish mostly, with Kaiga throwing in the occasional nod or the polite, 'mhm.' They were halfway through the atrium where Sunny had woken up when they saw a young woman sitting on one of the central benches facing the fountain. If Suika was a doll-lumberjack-action figure, this woman was the epitome of a porcelain doll. She was slim and pale, and had the prettiest hair Sunny had ever seen. It was long and wavy, and it faded through multiple pastel colors; from blue, to green, yellow, and then pink. Part of it was styled up in a braid crown, but the rest cascaded down her back in a beautiful array of colors. In contrast to her colorful hair, the girl was dressed entirely in black and white. Black ruffled shirt with white flowers, tucked into a knee-length black skirt with knee high white socks and black flats.

Sunny, ever the extrovert, decided to try to strike up a conversation.

"Hi there!"

The girl jumped slightly, "Oh! Hello there. I didn't hear you come over."

"Oh, uh, sorry. The fountain's kinda loud, isn't it?"

"I suppose, but it sounds quite nice, doesn't it?"

"Uh, yeah, it's pretty relaxing to listen to. Sorry for switching topics, but are you an Ultimate?"

"Yes, yes I am. I am Rivka Adina Levine, the Ultimate Classical Composer."

* * *

**Rivka Adina Levine**

**Ultimate Classical Composer**

* * *

"Wow. That's—uh—that's pretty fancy. Oh, uh—this is Kaiga. He's the Ultimate Scuba Diver?" Sunny glanced back at Kaiga for confirmation, who gave her a nod, "Yeah. Scuba Diver. I'm showing him where the baggage claim is. Do you want to come?"

Rivka looked confused, "Baggage claim?"

"Uh—yeah. Did you not see the rectangle thing with the instructions?" Kaiga coughed very conspicuously, and pointed at the white cane leaning on the bench next to Rivka.

"OH! Oh, crap sorry. I'm—uh—I'm not the brightest person around. Clearly. I will—uh—not… do that again?"

"That's alright, however, can you please explain what you mean by baggage claim?"

Sunny recounted all she knew of their situation so far; the airport, the ultimates, and the total emptiness. As Sunny told the story, Rivka grew increasingly more worried looking.

"Oh dear. I do hope that Y-my husband is here as well. I was trying to find him earlier, but I wasn't able to. I decided to sit here instead, especially since the fountain sounded so nice."

Kaiga chose the perfect moment to join the conversation, "D-do you want to find the baggage claim with us? Perhaps your husband might be down there?"

"Alright."

The now trio cut through the other half of the atrium, at the end of which was an immobile escalator with a giant screen above it.

"Huh. That's supposed to be moving, I think."

"It still works as stairs, does it not?" Rivka mused.

"Oh. Yeah. Duh."

The lower level of the airport was generally reserved for baggage claims and for people to find their rides. It too was essentially a long, beige hallway, except the chairs down here were green. There were ten baggage carousels on either side of the escalator, twenty in total. Each one was comprised of a square hole in the wall, attached to a long conveyor belt that twisted back and forth across the ground, until it went into a different hole about twenty feet away. There was only one carousel in use, and there were 9 identical black suitcases traveling around it in circuits. There were two girls standing off to the side, each holding the handle of the same black suitcase, and one man trying to wrestle a suitcase off of the conveyor belt.

"Hey! Do you want some help over there?" Sunny half-yelled, jogging over to the poor man.

"Yes, please, that would be much appreciated."

The suitcase itself was pretty small, about the size of an average carry-on, but it was practically stuck to the conveyor belt. It took both of their combined efforts to get the suitcase off of the moving platform.

"Thank you, that was greatly appreciated. I'm Viktor Voss, and before you ask, yes, I am an Ultimate. The Ultimate Neuroscientist, to be precise."

* * *

**Viktor Voss**

**Ultimate Neuroscientist**

* * *

Viktor was average height, and seemed to be quite toned, despite the issue with the suitcase. He had auburn hair that seemed mostly neat, aside from short bangs that seemed to keep falling in his face, and a small goatee of the same color. Viktor had warm brown eyes, in front of which sat a pair of dark brown glasses that were a mix of oval shaped and rectangular. Viktor had on a white dress shirt with a black collar, similar to Kaiga's, over which was a green sweater vest, and a light blue tie with black and white stripes.

"Oh—uh—okay. Cool. I'm Sunny Sycamore, I'm the Ultimate Fisherman. And these are…"

"My name is Rivka Adina Levine. I'm the Ultimate Composer. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I-I'm Kaiga Nakajima. I'm the Ultimate Scuba D-diver."

"Ah. Well. It is a pleasure to meet all of you as well. How exciting to meet so many different people, all from different sorts of places, it seems. I'd suggest you find your bag on the baggage carousel, if you miss it it may take a while for it to come back around again."

Rivka's bag came by first, indicated by her name printed across it in small white letters, and Viktor, seeming like more of a gentleman by the minute, snatched from the conveyor belt for her. Kaiga's suitcase was next. Sunny tried to pull it off and used too much force, expecting it to be stuck like Viktor's, and smacked herself in the face with the bag. It took a while, but her bag eventually emerged from the hole in the wall, and was retrieved from the conveyor belt.

Sunny, confused, took the suitcase over to a nearby chair. This didn't look like the suitcase she had planned to take with her to Hope's Peak. That bag was bigger, an awful shade of green, and a lot more beat up too. This bag was small and sleek, and its plastic surface was completely blemish free. On the front of the suitcase was a rectangular indentation, the same size as the tablet Sunny found. She'd investigate that later though, right now she wanted to know what was inside. Sunny carefully unzipped the bag and flipped the lid up, exposing the bag's neatly packed contents. On one end was a sleeping bag, rolled up into a gray compression sack, and an inflatable pillow was tucked in next to it. Beside that was a black toiletry kit, which, upon further investigation, contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, a hairbrush, and a small stick of deodorant. The next item confused Sunny. It was her fishing vest and matching hat. How in the world did they get there? Still, she pulled both items on, like some sort of khaki armor against her weird situation. The last item threw Sunny for a loop. She remembered putting it in her carry-on when she was packing. What was Ray the stuffed sunfish doing in this random suitcase? That was downright creepy. Sunny kind of wanted to give the fish a hug, but the weirdness of the situation stopped her. She closed the suitcase instead, slamming the lid down a little bit harder than she needed to. Time to investigate the outside of the suitcase, specifically, the rectangular hole. Upon further investigation, Sunny found a tablet charger embedded into the bottom of the hole. Maybe this was meant for holding those weird rectangles? Sunny stood the suitcase on the ground, and plugged the rectangle in. Right as it snapped into place, the suitcase gave a beep, and sped off down the baggage claim.

What the fuck?


	4. Chapter 4

**TheRoseShadow21 - AAAA! The softest bean! She shall not be spared. I'm glad I wrote her well! Hopefully I did your spiky bean justice too. Of course the suitcase runs away. There will be despair, but there will also be plenty of absurdity!**

**tobi-is-an-artist-too - Woo! Interesting favorites! Dajeong seems to be quite popular, which is great, because she's so fun to write. **

**PainX65 - Sunny needs the protection. Please. She's too good. Runaway robot suitcase! AKA my new favorite plot device that I definitely didn't use just to introduce other OCs. Thanks so much! :DD**

**ComplicatedYetSimple - Your review made me cry happy tears. Seriously. I'm so glad it was a fun read. And that you like the cast! Although that might not be too good in the long run. I'm happy Sunny is a fave! She's so precious. Another Dajeong lover! Woo! **

**Ziggymia123 - Sunny is just too precious. I'm so sorry. She was supposed to be a lot better of a conversationalist, but I'm not really sure how conversations are supposed to work, so she's morphed into the awkward extrovert bean you see today. Ginjiro definitely turned out a lot snappier than I expected, although I think he'll mellow out a bit. Rivka's design is so pretty. I wasn't kidding when I said she looked like a doll.**

**RioA - Yo Rio :D! Glad you don't mind the way I write! It's definitely not as polished as other SYOC's I've seen, but it is fun. And full of dialogue. I love writing dialogue. I did good with Kaiga! Yaay! Run, Sunny, run!**

**Also big thanks to Sharkeye for beta-ing!**

* * *

Sunny stared at the errant luggage in disbelief.

"Uh, did my suitcase just…"

Viktor nodded, "I believe that the luggage is designed to follow you around, reducing the need to drag it behind you, however, yours seems to have developed plans of its own."

"Should—should I go after it?"

"That seems like a sound plan."

So Sunny was running through the Orlando airport once more, although this was much different than the first time. Sunny was sprinting, focused on her goal of catching the suitcase, when she realized she was barreling towards two girls standing in the middle of the hallway. She tried to dig her heels in to bring herself to a stop, but her sandals gave her no traction and she ended up sprawled out on the awful green carpet, staring right up at the two girls. Both were tall and pale, but that's where the similarities ended. One had silver hair, styled into a pair of twin tails and very neat bangs. Despite the hair, her face was youthful, a pair of red eyes peering out of it. She was tall and willowy, dressed in a sharp black suit with a red tank top underneath, and a pair of bright red heels standing dangerously close to Sunny's face. The other girl was much more muscular, although not quite as curvy. Her black hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail, with messy bangs falling into her face. This girl's eyes were bright green, almost eerily so, and she wore a blue bandana that obscured the lower half of her face. Her clothes were also quite different from the first girl's; a loose black hoodie covered in neon purple skulls unzipped over a gray tank top, and a pair of dark gray cargo shorts.

"What the fuck?" The black-haired girl spoke first.

Sunny, frozen in her position on the floor, gaped awkwardly upwards at the new voice.

"Another one in cargo shorts. Truly a disaster." Said the second, her voice cold and smug.

"Uh. Sorry?" Sunny mumbled, unsure how to respond.

"Damn, Kagami, straight out the gate insulting her clothes. What a way to make an introduction." The first girl shook her head.

The silver-haired girl, now identified as Kagami, fixed her with a cold glare.

Sunny, not wanting to start a fight, spoke up, "Uh. Hi? I'm Sunny. It's, uh, it's—I—hi."

"Name's Karagi Iemikawa. I'm the Ultimate Graffiti Artist. Or the Ultimate Vandal, depending on who you ask."

* * *

**Karagi Iemikawa**

**Ultimate Graffiti Artist**

* * *

"And _I_ am Kagami Unubore, Ultimate Fashion Designer. I'm responsible for many renowned fashion lines, such as Unubore Business Chic, Luxe Lolita, Lady's Street Fashion…" Her voice trailed off at Sunny's blank expression.

* * *

**Kagami Unubore**

**Ultimate Fashion Designer**

* * *

"Sorry. I—uh, I have no clue what you're talking about."

"You've really never heard of any of the most famous fashion lines in the world?"

"Uh—no?"

Kagami's expression remained distant, but Sunny was sure she'd offended her.

"Need a hand up?" Karagi extended a paint-stained hand down to her, and Sunny gladly took it.

"Woah, you have six fingers?"

"Yeah." Karagi replied, completely nonplussed.

"Cool."

Awkward silence ensued. Standing up, she saw that she was about the same height as Kagami, and maybe a bit shorter than Karagi.

"So, Sunny," said Kagami, breaking the silence, "I assume that you have an Ultimate as well?"

"Uh, yeah! I'm the Ultimate Fisherman!"

"Huh."

"Well, that explains...that." Kagami glanced up and down at Sunny's outfit, scrutinizing her as if she were something distasteful stuck to the underside of her heel.

"Wh—what's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Sunny stammered, uncomfortable under Kagami's smug gaze.

"Isn't it quite obvious?"

"Yeah, Sunny, isn't it obvious? You're not dressed like a smug bitch." Karagi chided.

"I am not dressed, as you say, like a smug bitch."

"No? It must be your personality, then."

"How rude. I won't deign your crude remark with a response."

"You just did."

Sunny slunk away from the argument and back to the baggage claim where Viktor and Rivka were standing, Kaiga having walked away after getting his luggage.

"Uh, Viktor, have they been doing that the whole time?"

"Doing what?" Asked Rivka.

"Oh, sorry. There are these two girls over there, stuck in—"

"In a battle of insults? Yes. Those two were going at it when I came down here, at least half an hour ago."

Just then, another duo came rushing down the broken escalator. The first to get off the stairs was a skinny guy with pink hair, and… another set of heart shaped sunglasses? These were different than Ginjiro's, though. These glasses were dark purple, and wrapped around the sides of the man's face. His clothes were… a trip. He had on a sweater in this eye burning salmon color, and an equally bright green shirt underneath. It didn't end there though, the man had on a bright red hat and a lavender scarf. All in all, it made Sunny a bit dizzy.

"RIVKA!" The man shouted, and ran across the room to Rivka, wrapping her into a tight hug.

"Motek!" Rivka squeezed the man back, looking immensely relieved.

"Rivka. Ohh, _ani kol kach sameach sh'matzati otach, hayiti col cach meodag, lo yadati eifo at hayit, v'ani lo yodea eifo ani achshav, v—"_

"Yaron," said Rivka, pulling away, "I'm happy you're alright as well, but there are other people around."

"Uh, hi!" Sunny decided that was the perfect moment to introduce herself, "I'm Sunny, Sunny Sycamore. What's your name?"

The man scoffed, "what's it to you?"

"Oh—I—uh, I'm sorry? I didn't mean to be rude, I—"

"No, no, it's fine. The name's Yaron. Yaron Siskind. I'm the Ultimate Spoken Word Artist."

* * *

**Yaron Siskind**

**Ultimate Spoken Word Artist**

* * *

"Sounds cool! I'm assuming you're Rivka's husband?"

"How the fuck would you know?"

"Uh? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I—uh. Rivka said she had a husband earlier, and I mean you two seem really familiar, so I just…guessed?"

"You did guess right," said Rivka.

"Okay. Cool. I'm—um. Like I said, I'm Sunny. I'm the Ultimate Fisherman?"

Rivka nodded, having heard the information before.

"I suppose everyone here is an Ultimate, then?"

"Yeah…I mean, I think so. At least everyone I've met so far is."

"That's good to keep in mind then, isn't it?"

Sunny, nodded, unsure how to continue the conversation, and wandered over to the other girl who had come down the escalator. This girl was tiny, at least in comparison to everyone else she'd run into so far. She was adorable though, pale skin with freckles clustered across her nose, and happy green eyes partially covered by strawberry blonde hair. The girl wore a blue shirt under a light grey sweater completely covered with pins, and, (as Sunny happily noted), a pair of khaki-colored cargo shorts. Extending down from the shorts were a pair of knee-high socks, the same color as they sky and dotted with airplanes. Atop her head was a bright pink beanie, awkwardly smashing down the girl's pigtails.

"Hi there!" Sunny waved, jogging over to where the girl was rummaging through a black suitcase, "I'm Sunny! What's your name?"

She didn't get a response.

"Uh. Okay. I—sorry, you seem kinda busy I didn't mean to—"

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you the first time! I was trying to find something in the luggage I just received, but I guess it's not in there. You said your name was Sunny, right? I'm Asuka Maeda! Feel free to call me Asu, that's what my older brothers always call me. I'm the Ultimate Travel Blogger! Which is, uh. I was looking for my camera, I like to vlog when anything interesting happens, but I can't find it. All the rest of my stuff is in there though. Along with a lot of things that aren't mine. Ah! That was a lot all at once, wasn't it? What's your Ultimate Talent, Sunny?"

* * *

**Asuka Maeda**

**Ultimate Travel Blogger**

* * *

Sunny, relieved at not having to deal with anymore uncomfortable pauses, took a moment to register the question. She blinked in confusion, waiting for any remaining brain cells to kick in, until her brain finally got it together.

"Oh! Uh—sorry, I'm, uh, I'm the Ultimate Fisherman! I kinda lost it for a second there, sorry. Um—there's a lot of weird stuff in these suitcases, isn't there? Mine had a sleeping bag and toiletries and stuff but it also had my fishing gear? And a stuffed fish? Here, lemme—" Sunny reached down to open her suitcase to show Asuka what was in it, but it wasn't there. "CRAP! SORRY I FORGOT I LOST MY SUITCASE GOTTA CHASE IT SORRY BYE!"

Sunny ran off again, but stopped only a few feet away.

"I don't know where it went. Auuugh." She dragged her hands down her face, and let them fall lamely to her sides. This was...not good. She'd gotten distracted by all the new people and now her errant suitcase had vanished. Shit.

"Sunny? Are you okay? You look kind of…displeased." Asuka had come up behind her while she was having a mini meltdown and had placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"Uh—yeah, yeah. I'm good, sorry that was kinda…immature? I—uh, I lost my suitcase."

"Oh. Well, that's not so difficult! Where was the last place you remember putting it?"

"No, that's not, uh" Sunny stammered, momentarily flustered by the sudden contact, and also uncomfortable with correcting someone she'd just met, "I, uh, my suitcase I didn't—I didn't misplace it, it ran away."

"It ran away? What do you mean?"

"Well… you know how your suitcase is kinda following you around?" Sunny gestured down at the suitcase sitting a few inches behind Asuka, following her around like an obedient puppy.

"Oh! I suppose so!"

"Yeah, well, mine didn't do that? I put it on the ground and it just kinda...zoomed off? I was following it but then I got distracted," she inclined her head towards Karagi and Kagami, who seemed to still be bickering.

"Well. That's…hmm. I wonder if anyone saw where it went? How about him?" Asuka wandered towards Viktor. Sunny hung back a bit, wanting to avoid the awkwardness that came with first introductions. Or, she tried, at least. Asuka waved her over, and she had to come join the conversation.

"Ah, Sunny. I see you have yet to find your suitcase."

"Heh. Yeah, I'm not quite sure where it went. I don't think it went up the stairs? 'Cuz that wouldn't make any sense. I mean they are fancy enough to follow you around so I mean maybe it could also get itself up the stairs but I don't know." Sunny felt her face grow hot. That sounded so dumb.

"Well, if it can't go up the stairs, then it has to be down here, right?" Asuka's response made Sunny feel a bit less idiotic, although she still felt a little weird.

"Asuka is correct. It must've gone down the other hallway. I suspect it has run into a wall, or gotten stuck on a different baggage carousel."

"OkaycoolyeahsoundsgreatthanksViktorbye!" Sunny shouted, already on her way to the opposite end of the hall.

This end of the baggage terminal was much like the first one Sunny had wandered down. The hallways would've been identical, save for a faded outline of a Starbucks sign above an inset restaurant that must've been, well, a Starbucks. She heard an awkward mechanical thumping from behind the counter. Resisting the urge to jump over the counter, (since that worked so well last time), Sunny carefully pushed open the half-door at the end of the counter and…laughed?

Asleep on the tile floor was a tall, slim man with slick brown hair dressed in a long black jacket, and what looked to be her suitcase duking it out with what must've been the suitcase belonging to the man asleep on the floor. The two suitcases were behaving like broken roombas, smashing into each other and then backing up to gain enough momentum to do it again. Sunny wanted to try to grab the handle of her suitcase, but she was worried that if she timed it wrong, she'd wind up with a broken finger. So she settled for staring at the two suitcases, hoping that they'd call some sort of electronic truce, or run out of battery. Whichever happened first. What she hadn't expected was for the man on the floor to wake up. He didn't seem startled though, the man stood up calmly and stared at the two suitcases, an expression of boredom clearly written across his face, before finally noticing Sunny.

"Hey."

"Hi? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to—uh—stare you down or anything I swear, I—my suitcase ran off and then I heard noises back here and it looks like it's…trying to do battle with your suitcase?"

"No shit." The man stood up and gave the nearest suitcase a sharp kick, causing the two suitcases to rebound in opposite directions across the Starbucks.

"Uh, thank…you? I think? Oh! What's your name, by the way? I'm Sunny! Sunny Sycamore? Also do you happen to have an Ultimate Talent? So far everyone I've met has had one, so—"

"Yeah. The name's Alias Mooney, I'm the Ultimate Archer. And I'm going back to sleep, so piss off."

* * *

**Alias Mooney**

**Ultimate Archer**

* * *

Sunny was startled at the outright hostility, and couldn't come up with anything to say except for some confused stammering.

"What are you? Some broken record? Quit stammering like that and leave me alone."

Sunny needed no further invitation, and bolted away from the derelict Starbucks, now with her suitcase in tow. She didn't see anything interesting at the end of the hallway, so she turned and went back to the escalators. There was no one else around, they must've all gone back to the first floor. Sunny supposed she should head back up as well, but she really didn't feel like hauling her suitcase up all those stairs. It wasn't like she had much of a choice though. Surprisingly, her suitcase was quite light, and required very little effort to get it up each step. Soon enough, she was at the top of the escalator, slightly panting, but no real harm done.

There were a couple people standing in clumps around the atrium, but the rest must have gone elsewhere. To the food court, perhaps? She didn't feel like going back there. Instead, she set off in a new direction, to a hallway opposite the food court at the opposite end of the atrium. Through a set of giant glass doors was the terminal shuttle. It used to be a pickup station, where bulky buses on winding tracks came to pick up people to take them to other terminals. Sunny had always liked riding the shuttles, since they went outside the airport; it was like going on a mini-adventure. Plus, it was a nice station too. The ceilings were high and glassy, and each shuttle had its own glass tube-docking station thing, which made everything look very modern. But all the buses were gone, their glass tubes sealed off at the ends with cement, essentially blocking any entrances to the terminal shuttles. At the end of the station was a small man, pacing back and forth.

As Sunny walked closer to introduce herself, more of the man's features became clear. He wasn't necessarily small, just spindly, his bony wrists sticking out of a gray suit-jacket that looked like it had been yanked right out of the 70's. There was a bright red ascot around his neck, the only spot of color from his dull olive shirt, khaki pants, and brown shoes. His hair was black, and pinned up in a bun, revealing his sickly pale skin. The man didn't look well. Still, Sunny was undeterred.

"Hi there!"

The man jumped but composed himself quickly, the look of panic on his face replaced with a meager smile, his hands clasped tightly together in front of him.

"Hello. My name is Hideki Tateyama. It's lovely to meet you."

"Lovely—lovely to meet you too! I'm Sunny! Sycamore! Sunny Sycamore, sorry. You wouldn't happen to have an Ultimate Talent, would you?"

"Oh, yes. I am the Ultimate Travel Agent, setting up vacations and all that. Do you have an Ultimate Talent?"

* * *

**Hideki Tateyama**

**Ultimate Travel Agent**

* * *

"Uh, yeah. I'm the Ultimate Fisherman. I—I catch fish? Uh, travel agent, huh?" Sunny had done her fair share of traveling, but she'd never enlisted the services of a travel agent before, "Um…I didn't realize that travel agents still…travel agent-ed? Wait, no, that came out wrong I didn't mean that to sound like—"

Hideki cut her off with a thin chuckle, "Yes, I've heard that before. But rest assured, there are still plenty of travel agents in the business." He sounded almost like he was trying to pitch a sale to her, although Sunny wasn't quite sure what he was selling.

"Oh, uh, interesting. If you travel agent, does that mean you know about a lot of airports and travel stuff?"

"I suppose it would, although this specific airport is unfamiliar to me."

"Heh, you're probably lucky on that count."

"I take it that you don't like this particular location?"

"Oh! Uh…I mean, I'm not a huge fan of airports in general, so maybe I'm biased? I've never really like the Orlando Airport though."

Having obtained knowledge of his current location, Hideki looked a bit more relaxed. Not by much, though.

"Sunny, you mentioned that you've been through the Orlando airport before? Do you travel often?" Hideki mused, possibly in an attempt to generate some conversation.

"Yeah…yeah, I guess so. I mean, I live here in Florida, but I go to school in Japan, so that's a fair amount of flying each year. Sometimes I have to fly places for fishing tournaments too, although sometimes I can get people to drive if it's not too far, but, uh, yeah. Traveling." Sunny absentmindedly tugged at her curls, her incessant rambling making her want to curl up in a ball.

"Pardon me, but where did you get that suitcase?"

"At the baggage claim? Like it said on the tablet?"

"I did see the message, yes, but where is the baggage claim itself?"

"Oh! Oh! Sorry, it's uh, if you go out that way—wait. Wait a minute." Sunny was suddenly hit with a wave of confusion. Something was off. Usually people knew where baggage claim was, even if they'd never been to the airport, she couldn't remember why though. How did people get around if they—"DIRECTION SIGN THINGS! WHAT ARE THEY CALLED?!"

"I…information placards?"

"YEAH! THE SCREENS, THEY HANG DOWN FROM THE CEILING, THEY HAVE ALL THE DIRECTIONS ON 'EM! THAT'S HOW PEOPLE GET TO BAGGAGE CLAIM! WAIT—" Sunny looked up to point at the information screen that hung above the door to one of the empty shuttle docks, only to realize that it was shut off, "oh."

That explained…so much.

"Are those hanging signs usually information placards?"

"Uh—Yeah, they updated them to be electronic a few years ago, it was a whole thing…OH! Right! Directions! Go through there," she pointed at the glass door, "and then you'll be in the atrium, and at the opposite end is a broken escalator, and then go down that and you'll be at the baggage claim."

"Ah, thank you very much, Sunny." Hideki nodded, and quickly walked out of the shuttle room.

Sunny, now alone, finally took a moment to organize her thoughts. There was clearly something going on, she'd figured that out about 14 conversations ago. The power didn't seem to be working either, the escalators were broken, and so were the information boards. She realized that the air conditioners weren't on either, their telltale hum suddenly glaringly absent. She had a suitcase that wasn't hers, full of stuff that _was_ hers on a baggage claim on the opposite side of the world from where she was currently supposed to be. She should be in Japan right now, preparing for another school year. In fact, everyone else she'd met should be as well. That was another weird thing, there was no one else in the airport, save for the Ultimates she'd run into. Sunny thought she should be panicking, this was the weirdest situation that she could've ever found herself in, but she wasn't panicking. She didn't really feel all that afraid. Maybe it was the familiar territory, although it didn't feel so familiar any more.

"Sunny?" She felt a tap on her shoulder and whipped around, albeit very clumsily, and fell over her suitcase. Sprawled out on the floor, she got a good look at the newcomer. It was a man, tall, but fairly average looking. He had short brown hair that fell across his forehead and down his neck, but didn't quite cover his yellow eyes. The man looked professional, but also sort of intimidating, with a blue jacket over a black button down, and a pair of leather pants.

"Uh—hi? Do I know you? You don't look familiar? I mean I don't exactly have the best memory, but—"

"No. But I've heard of you. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Bryan York, the Ultimate Taxi Driver."

* * *

**Bryan York**

**Ultimate Taxi Driver**

* * *

Bryan offered a gloved hand in Sunny's direction, but she ignored the help and disentangled her legs from the suitcase on her own.

"How do you know my name?"

"I'm a taxi driver, people tend to get chatty."

"That's not very reassuring, but, uh, oh well? I guess?" Sunny wasn't particularly comfortable with the idea of being talked about by strangers, that wasn't something she'd ever put much thought into. "You're the Ultimate Taxi Driver?"

Bryan nodded, "I did just say that."

"I—-uh—yeah. Yeah, you did. I was just, uh, that's an interesting talent? I've only been in a taxi a couple times, so I don't have much to say. But, uh. Yeah."

"It is certainly an interesting job. You hear all sorts of stories, and you get to visit plenty of different places. You mentioned that you've only been in a taxi a few times?"

"Well, more than a few, I guess. I just usually fall asleep in them, so I can only really remember a few specific rides."

"Interesting."

"Yeah." Sunny squirmed a bit under Bryan's gaze. She felt a bit like she was under a microscope.

There was a sudden crackling over the PA system, and then everything flooded to life. The air conditioners whirred on, the starting of the escalators was heard, and the information boards suddenly flashed to life. But they didn't list out departure times, or gate changes, no, nothing like that. The electric blue background was replaced with a split black and white screen, with the words, "**please proceed to the information desk at Gate 1-A" **typed across it in bold lettering.

"That was unexpected." Mused Bryan.

"Yeah." Sunny felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Something was dreadfully wrong, and she was about to find out exactly what was going on.

* * *

**Annnnd...that's the introductions done! I hope they turned out well! Sadly, I won't be able to put out any updates for at least a month, as I'll be away without any internet. But, I will be planning things the whole time, so I can get things rolling once I get back. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
